So? Am I, probably the least likely to watch this, the only one watching?

I'm really (really!) not a kid person, so I didn't think I'd watch but since they revised the name and my 'Master Chef' SP picked it up I figured I'd give it a look-see.

Well, imagine my surprise in finding that it's really good! These are not like the kids I see 99% of the time. These are smart, polished, caring, polite kids who can cook. I mean they REALLY can cook!

In E01 they started with 24 kidlets and had a challenge that whittled it down to 12. The one heartbreak was this tiny little guy with so much personality and I was so bummed when he got the ax. He cried. I cried.

In E02 the 12 remaining kidtestants did a mystery box and one winner got to choose what everybody else would cook. This was one of the younger kids who is simply amazing (many of them are!).

So, they are doing this just like the adult version but what I am the most impressed with is these kids. Imagine that! (if you knew me, you'd probably be shocked out of your chair)

I also cried when that little 8 year old got cut -- he was a cutie with a ton of personality and would have been great on the show!
I am so impressed with these kids. Most seem like good sports, too-they applaud for each other rather than scheme and plot and throw the 'evil eye' like the adults do!
That 13 year old, Alexander, is an early favorite, the macaroons he churned out in the first ep were a-ma-zing! Grant was so funny-"I want to take these in the corner and eat them myself, but I am going to be nice and share..."
The chefs are nice to them, too...they have really dialed it back-- although they sometimes seem to tease them a little for dramatic effect...but they offer constructive criticism and always have something positive to say.
I am really enjoying the show. So cute how some of the kids have to stand on stepstools to reach the counters! Adorable!

Oh, I love the good sportsmanship of encouraging each other and celebrating the successes of the others. I'm a sucker for good sportsmanship, though, which is why a lot of competitions that have nasty, ugly people just turn me off.

Yeah, Alexander is amazing too. I also like the little guy who won the mystery box challenge (forgot his name already).

What blows my mind - I'm in my 50s. I've been cooking since I was 6. I can cook and make some freaking awesome stuff. Do I cook like these kids? Hellno. They impress me intensely.

The only bummer is the heartbreaking moments of somebody getting axed. But it's heartwarming also. I love how, unlike with the adults (really, the only difference I've seen so far), they get to keep their MC aprons when they get eliminated. That's cool.

I don't usually watch Masterchef, but when I saw it was Masterchef Junior, I set it to record as a possible show my whole family will actually want to sit down and watch together. After last week's, we had a winner! The kids LOVED it.

I, too, was pushing for the charismatic 8-year-old who was eliminated last week. Now I'm pushing for Jack (who loves his Hawaiian shirts).

The only thing I really don't like is their prize for being the winner of the whole show: a trophy. Really? No large cash prize in a trust?

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The only thing I really don't like is their prize for being the winner of the whole show: a trophy. Really? No large cash prize in a trust?

On one of the episodes, they announced the cash prize was $100,000. I remember because they asked the kids what they would do with the money and more than one of the kids said they wanted to open their own restaurant.

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On one of the episodes, they announced the cash prize was $100,000. I remember because they asked the kids what they would do with the money and more than one of the kids said they wanted to open their own restaurant.

On one of the episodes, they announced the cash prize was $100,000. I remember because they asked the kids what they would do with the money and more than one of the kids said they wanted to open their own restaurant.

At the end of the episode, 10 kids will advance to the next round of competition and move one step closer to being named America’s first-ever MASTERCHEF JUNIOR and win a $100,000 prize.

Personally, I think it would be better without the cash prize, for one reason: this isn't "nationwide" in any remote definition of the term - two of the original 24 are from the San Francisco area, and the rest are either from the Los Angeles or New York City areas.

On one of the episodes, they announced the cash prize was $100,000. I remember because they asked the kids what they would do with the money and more than one of the kids said they wanted to open their own restaurant.

That makes me feel a lot better about it. I remember watching the first episode, and all the kids being so excited about the apron "prize", then drooling over the trophy and don't remember mention of the $100k.

Greg

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Plus, I think they're being MUCH nicer to the kids. I highly doubt they'll actually spit out the food like they do with the adults. So far, they've just said things like "it's a little bit dry", and something like "it's not up to the level of your previous food", even to the girl who was sent home this week whose food seemed MUCH worse than the other contestants'.

One thing I have noticed is that I think they should have built risers behind the cooking stations, or at least the ones assigned to the extremely short kids. They seem to just have a small little square step stool, and I could totally imagine falling off of one whole holding a hot pan!! i.e. they couldn't reasonably lower the cooking stations, so just build a foot-high (or whatever) "stage" covering the whole distance between that and the station behind it.

Those kids are just amazing! The food they are turning out is mostly already restaurant quality and their understanding of flavors is incredible for their ages!

Not that I doubted it, but I'm impressed with the encouragement the three judges are giving the kids even for the poorer dishes. I hope this continues and doesn't turn into a b*tchfest like the last series of senior Masterchef did. That just wouldn't be fair.

__________________"YOU! YES YOU! STAND STILL, LADDIE""How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?"

I hope this continues and doesn't turn into a b*tchfest like the last series of senior Masterchef did. That just wouldn't be fair.

There is pretty much zero chance that you are going to see any of the chefs yell at the kids for having a bad dish. Not that they probably don't let something slip out, mind you, but I doubt that the producers would allow it to air. That has to be one of the reasons they started with the Top 24 rather than showing a bunch of kids making disastrous dishes trying to qualify.

There's a reason Simon Cowell had no on-screen presence in American Juniors...

Wife 2.0 and I have been enjoying this show quite a bit. Definitely more friendly and nicer toned compared to the adults. Not that the drama and b!tch!ness with the adults doesn't make things interesting, it just wears at you after a bit of viewing. With these youngsters, the part that wears and tears on you is seeing them wind up heartbroken over one bad dish that sent someone home.

It was fun to see the judges have fun with the stiff peaks challenge. The judges took that all in stride too and made it a lot of fun for everyone.

I'm consistently wowed by these kids. It's just amazing how talented they are. I do wonder what kind of additional resources they are provided that we don't see on screen. When first presented, it seemed like nearly all of the kids were filmed saying that they had never made this before. The chef's offered to answer any questions they had, but is that where the help stopped? If that's all the help they had?'c I imagine that question and answer period was a lot longer than what we saw.

Still, though, even if there is some help we don't see, to pull something like that off on (what we assume is) a first try is amazing.

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I'm consistently wowed by these kids. It's just amazing how talented they are. I do wonder what kind of additional resources they are provided that we don't see on screen. When first presented, it seemed like nearly all of the kids were filmed saying that they had never made this before. The chef's offered to answer any questions they had, but is that where the help stopped? If that's all the help they had?'c I imagine that question and answer period was a lot longer than what we saw.

Still, though, even if there is some help we don't see, to pull something like that off on (what we assume is) a first try is amazing.

One thing with the Wellingtons is that it was mostly packaged items. Crepe, Puff pastry, mushroom paste, all of that was already made. On the adult edition, they would have to make those parts.

I'm consistently wowed by these kids. It's just amazing how talented they are. I do wonder what kind of additional resources they are provided that we don't see on screen. When first presented, it seemed like nearly all of the kids were filmed saying that they had never made this before. The chef's offered to answer any questions they had, but is that where the help stopped? If that's all the help they had?'c I imagine that question and answer period was a lot longer than what we saw.

Still, though, even if there is some help we don't see, to pull something like that off on (what we assume is) a first try is amazing.

I'm sure what we don't see onscreen are the boring education parts that explain that X ingredient is like Y ingredient and can be used in Z and cooking times/tips. Even with all the help these kids are amazing.

From what I googled a week or two ago it appears they do have huge advantages with the challenges. But as mentioned, it's still impressive watching these kids execute. I could know what I was going to cook weeks in advance and take cooking lessons, and I'd probably still have problems executing these dishes.

Oh yeah, how could I forget the stiff peaks challenge? That was pretty funny. You knew at least one of them was going to get it and then when they went a little into 'food fight' mode it was pretty funny.

I liked how Joe tried to be kind of stern, ahead of time, as he made sure to mention that he gets angry, so he better not get nailed with the cream. Nailed he got.

I think a) the show is less episodes and b) cutting two at once reduces the stress on the kids a bit. Someone to share your unhappiness with.

I don't know about (b), but (a) is certainly true - the finale is on November 8. (Bones moves to Fridays (to make room on Monday for Almost Human), and Raising Hope (new episode & repeat in an hour block) returns, on November 15. Enlisted was supposed to start, but Fox moved its premiere to January, which, IMO, is not a good sign.)

CORRECTION: Originally this said there would be a 2-hour finale on November 1, but Fox has since changed its plans - "Part 1" of the finale is now on 11/1, and "Part 2" on 11/8